27 resorts in elephant corridor to be sealed tomorrow

Aug 11 (PTI) Twenty seven resortsconstructed on the elephantcorridor in the Nilgiris District without prior approval would be sealed tomorrow as per the order of the Supreme Court, official sources said. An order to this effect was issued today by the District Collector Innocent Divya, they said. Officials from local administration, revenue and police departments would be involved in the sealing process, the sources said, adding the future course of action would be taken after reviewing the situation. The Collector had yesterday issued the notices to these resorts, coming under the Sigur corridor. On August 9, the Supreme Court had directed the Tamil Nadu government to seal or close down within 48 hours, the 27 resortsconstructed in the elephant corridor. The court had given the order after perusing a report by the district collector of Nilgiris, as earlier directed by it, which said that resorts were operating in the area even though they do not have approval for the same. The court had noted that of 39 resorts mentioned,lawyers were not present for 27 such commercial establishments and "it is deemed that they accepted the report of the report." It granted 48 hours time to the remaining 12 resorts to produce all documents showing approval and valid title and possession for running resorts before the collector. On others,whose names were mentioned in the report, the court said necessary documents might be produced before the collector for verification within two months from August 9. The court had said that elephants are a 'national heritage' and expressed displeasure as to how constructions had come up on the elephantcorridor of Nilgiris. Owners of some of these hotels and resorts have also filed appeals in the apex court against a Madras High Court order against them on the matter. The court had earlier said it was 'extremely unfortunate' that many states had not responded to two communications sent by the Centre on the issue of elephant corridors to curb incidents of human-animal conflict and reduce animal fatalities. The Centre had told the court that a committee was formed to consider the suggestions, including making corridors across the country for the safe passage of elephants and other endangered animals. The apex court had stressed the need to have elephant corridors across the country to reduce animal fatalities owing to accidents and other reasons and asked the Centre to come up with some 'workable solution' in this regard. The Centre had told the court that there are 27 'critical' elephant corridors in 22 states, but despite the top court directions, 13 of those states had not responded to the government on the matter. (This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)